AMERICAN WINTER (UPDATE)

The documentary AMERICAN WINTER highlights the growing poverty epidemic in the United States and the inadequate "social safety net" for millions of American families.

The film is still available on HBO On Demand, or can be purchased on DVD

UPDATES:
Food Stamp Cuts Create High Demand for food Bank Supplies

Inequality is (Literally) Killing America

America's Greatest Shame: Child Poverty Rises and Food Stamps Cut While Billionaires Boom

Remembering Nelson Mandela

Remembering Nelson Mandela - Democratic Socialists of America

DSA mourns the death of Nelson Mandela, and honors his life of struggle for democratic socialism

We Must Celebrate the Life and Work of Nelson Mandela (Bill Fletcher)

Remembering Nelson Mandela: From Freedom Fighter to Political Prisoner to South African President  (Democracy Now)

Mandela, A Life of Struggle: The History Most Mainstream Obits Omit (Common Dreams)

12 Mandela Quotes that Won't Be In the Corporate Media Obituaries  (Common Dreams)

Nelson Mandela: An Ideal for which I am Prepared to Die  (The Guardian)

Mandela made this statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage, Supreme court of South Africa, Pretoria, April 20 1964

Corporate Elites Are Witnessing a Growing Wave of Resistance to the ‘Walmartization’ of Our Economy

Corporate Elites Are Witnessing a Growing Wave of Resistance to the ‘Walmartization’ of Our Economy | Alternet

Over 110 Arrested in Record Black Friday Protests

Corporations Should Pay a Living Wage or Face the Death Penalty (Thom Hartmann)

Kellogg Locks Out BCTGM-Represented Workers

BCTGM | Kellogg Locks Out BCTGM-Represented Workers

Memphis DSA stands in solidarity with Kelloggs workers locked-out of their jobs.

On Tuesday October 22, 2013 global cereal and snack giant Kellogg Company locked out workers represented by BCTGM Local Union 252G at the company’s Memphis cereal facility.

The $14 billion dollar company wants to replace steady, middle-class, full-time jobs with casual, part-time employees who would make significantly lower wages and substandard benefits. This will hurt these working families, the Memphis community, and ultimately, the company.

CLICK HERE to download a full Fact Sheet on the situation in Memphis. (PDF)

Commercial Appeal: Kellogg Lockout Idles 220 Cereal Plant Workers

For more information and to support the Kelloggs workers visit the BCTMG Website

GOP Senate Candidate Addressed Conference Hosted by Neo-Confederate Group That Promotes Secessionism

GOP Senate Candidate Addressed Conference Hosted by Neo-Confederate Group That Promotes 
Secessionism | Mother Jones

Mississippi Republican Chris McDaniel, who is challenging Sen. Thad Cochran and backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club for Growth, took the stage with a historian who says Lincoln was a Marxist.

Prepare for Battle: Fighting Austerity

Now that the government shutdown has been avoided, progressives and the democratic left must prepare for an even bigger battle: fighting more austerity budget cuts.  The Republican Party, and much of the Democratic Party establishment, including President Obama, have already signaled they will accept a budget deal, a "Grand Bargain"  that will drastically cut "entitlements" (i.e., Social Security and Medicare).  We must prepare to fight back!

Instead of cutting Social Security, we must expand it, to cover more people. Instead of raising the retirement age to get SS benefits, we should lower it.   There is no Social Security "crisis," the trust fund has nearly $3 Trillion, the problem is Congress has stolen part of the surplus to cover other spending.  What should be cut is military spending.

The long term national debt can be addressed by cutting military spending, corporate welfare programs, and by RAISING taxes on the corporate rich, like the "Robin Hood Tax" on Wall Street transactions, and returning to the pre-Reagan top tax rates.

Austerity  budget cuts have already cost millions of jobs.  The federal government must spend MORE to create jobs,  we need a national policy to guarantee Full Employment (John Conyers has re-introduced the Humphreys-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act  HR 870 to address the jobs crisis)

Government Shutdown Ended, Austerity Drive Lives On

The Government is Open. Now Fight for Just Government Policies

The Coming Debt Ceiling Settlement

It's the Austerity, Stupid: How We Were Sold an Economy-Killing Lie

Deal or No Deal on Shutdown and Debt Ceiling, Biggest Fiscal Policy Crisis Remains

Robin Hood Tax Petition

Join DSA!

Inequality for All

Inequality for All | A documentary film about income inequality, public policy, and economics and features professor Robert Reich.

Opens Friday in Memphis (Studio on the Square)
See the Film

Frances Fox Piven to Speak at Healthcare-NOW! Strategy Conference

Healthcare-NOW! - Frances Fox Piven to Speak at Healthcare-NOW! Strategy Conference

We are thrilled to announce that Frances Fox Piven, professor of political science and sociology at City University of New York, will give the keynote address at our National Strategy Conference in Nashville on October 5th and 6th. She will speak about lessons from social movements that transformed American life.

Frances is the author of many books, such as Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail and Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America.

Here she is talking about inequality and the importance of social movements. And here’s her seminal article on welfare rights, “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.”

If you haven’t already, go here to register for the conference today!

Also, we’re happy to release the first draft of the conference agenda. You can download it here (.pdf).

Workshops will be led by activists from Physicians for a National Health Program, National Nurses United, Public Citizen, Single Payer Now, Health Care for All Colorado, Healthcare-NOW! New York City, The Labor Campaign for Single Payer, and All Unions for Single Payer.

Don’t forget: You or your organization can sponsor an ad in our conference booklet. All ads include one free registration to the conference. Ads are a great way to congratulate one of 2013′s honorees. We will be honoring Tim Carpenter, of Progressive Democrats of America, with the Marilyn Clement Award for the Pursuit of Healthcare Justice. The Divestment Campaign for Healthcare will receive the Healthcare-NOW! Organizational Achievement Award. More information here.

Thanks for your support and we hope to see you in Nashville!

Why American Workers are Angry, Disgusted, Frustrated

Sen. Bernie Sanders Explains what the new census data on poverty and income means for the American working class
Angry, Disgusted, Frustrated - YouTube

R.I.P. American Middle Class 1946-2013

New Poverty and Income Data

Poverty Stuck at 15 Percent, Record 46.5 Million

The nation's poverty rate remained stuck at 15 percent last year despite America's slowly reviving economy, a discouraging lack of improvement for the record 46.5 million poor.

More than 1 in 7 Americans were living in poverty, not statistically different from the 46.2 million of 2011 and the sixth straight year the rate had failed to improve, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Other census findings:

—Poverty remained largely unchanged across race and ethnic groups. Blacks had the highest rate at 27.2 percent, compared to 25.6 percent for Hispanics and 11.7 percent for Asian-Americans. Whites had a rate of 9.7 percent.

—Child poverty stood at 21.8 percent.

—Poverty among people 65 and older was basically unchanged at 9.1 percent, after hitting a record low of 8.9 percent in 2009.

The Top 3 Things You Need to Know About the New Poverty and Income Data | Center for American Progress

As Congress prepares for yet another fiscal showdown, new data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau should be a wake-up call that it is time to move away from a wrong-headed austerity agenda and pivot to a focus on creating jobs, boosting wages, and investing in family economic security.

The new data on poverty and income show that despite economic growth, there was no statistically significant improvement in the poverty rate or median household income in 2012.

Behind these topline numbers are data that contain real warning signs for American families and the overall economy if Congress continues down its current path.

Here are three things you need to know about the new data and how they affect the budget and policy choices before us:

1. Income inequality has widened since the end of the Great Recession.
2. Our safety net is working overtime to compensate for rising income inequality and the proliferation of low-wage work.
3. High poverty rates among young children of color have long-term implications for our economic competitiveness.

Class War Update: U.S. Income Inequality at Record High

Inequality is real, it's personal, it's expensive and it was created 

U.S. Income Inequality at Record High

US Wealthy Have Biggest Piece of Pie Ever Recorded

The Rich are Now Richer than Ever

95% of 2009-2012 Income Gains Went to Wealthiest 1%

Inequality for All

The 1% Played the Tea Party for Suckers

The 1 percent played Tea Party for suckers - Salon.com

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day 2013: Things Never Looked Worse for Workers-or Brighter

Where Labor Day Comes from and Where It's Headed

14 Workers Struggles to Pay Attention to This Labor Day

Labor Wrestles with It's Future

For more labor news visit DSA's Talkin' Union website

Democratic Socialism and the 1963 March on Washington

“You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of the slums. . . . There must be a better distribution of wealth . . . and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speech to the SCLC staff, Frogmore, S.C., November 14, 1966

Democratic socialists Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 50 years ago.

They knew that ending legal segregation and winning political rights for African Americans were essential, but not sufficient, to ensure justice and freedom for all. Without access to good education, to health care and above all to decent jobs that paid living wages, the vote was not enough.

Today, as the recent Supreme Court decision has emboldened racists and reactionaries in many state governments to roll back the electoral influence of African Americans and Latinos, we are marching again to defend the gains in voting rights of the last 50 years. These rights are essential to overturn Stand Your Ground laws and to end the mass incarceration of young people of color and the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

More than ever, the full exercise of political rights depends upon basic economic and social rights that are under savage attack throughout the country. As austerity and perverted national priorities cripple public budgets, schools are closing and higher education is so expensive that most students incur massive debt in order to pay for it. Head Start programs are being shut down. The budget sequester is cutting extended unemployment benefits and denying Medicaid and housing assistance to families in desperate need.

Even as we welcome the extension of marriage rights, we know that discrimination on the job against the LGBT community continues. We know that the hard-fought gains of women for reproductive rights are being eliminated in many states. And millions of hard-working immigrants cannot get the legal status they need to emerge from the shadows into the full citizenship they deserve.

This is not the society that we, along with Martin Luther King, dreamed of. We reject its growing economic inequality. We are appalled that African-American and Hispanic communities have been ravaged by foreclosures. We support the organization of the tens of millions of workers who take the only jobs available to them in fast food and other low wage industries, ones that do not pay living wages or decent benefits to support a family.

Today we march to realize the Dream. Every day, we will work for the Dream we share with immigrant Dream Act activists, the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina and those who Defend the Dream in Florida. We shall overcome! 

Democratic Socialists of America

See Also:

Claiming the 1963 March on Washington

The Socialists Roots of the March on Washington

Socialists and the 1963 March on Washington

Bayard Rustin and the 1963 March on Washington

Hero of the Democratic Left: A. Philip Randolph

The Socialists Who Made the March on Washington

Martin Luther King,  Economic Justice, Workers' Rights and Multiracial Democracy

Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered For Role in March on Washington

Black, Gay and a Pacifist: Bayard Rustin Remembered For Role in March on Washington, Mentoring MLK | Democracy Now!

The White House has announced it will posthumously award the highest civilian award in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to the trailblazing civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Obama will honor Rustin and 15 others, including President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and baseball great Ernie Banks, at the White House later this year. Rustin was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. and introduced him to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. Rustin helped King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Six years later, he was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, rallying hundreds of thousands of people for economic justice, full employment, voting rights and equal opportunity. "Rustin was one of the most important social justice activists in the U.S. in the 20th century," says John D’Emilio, author of "Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin." "Rustin pioneered the use of Gandhian nonviolence as a way of calling attention to segregation and other forms of racism in the United States."

See also:
Bayard Rustin and the 1963 March on Washington
DSA-Democratic Left

The End of the "American Dream"?

Memphis tops the worst cities for upward class mobility according to this new study...

5 Worst Cities in America for Class Mobility | Alternet

The Deep South: Where the American Dream Goes to Die

The data shows that conservative economic policies are to blame for poverty and the lack of upward mobility across the south.

What About Justice for Trayvon Martin?

Some, mostly conservatives, are arguing that the Florida "Stand Your Ground' law played no role in the Zimmerman trial or verdict they are wrong.

The Instructions read to the Jury used the new Florida "Stand Your Ground" law's guidelines (that the defendant only had to show they feared they would be killed, not the older self-defense guidelines, that the defendant had to show that they did everything they could to avoid the confrontation or events that lead to killing someone to defend themselves.

Furthermore, Treyvon Martin and George Zimmerman were tried on two different grounds.  Treyvon Martin was tried and convicted of his own murder based on the pre-stand your ground laws that required a person to try to avoid or flee a situation that could lead to violence or death, whereas Zimmerman was acquitted based on the newer Stand Your Ground law which does not require a person to avoid a conflict, but only requires that they show they had a reasonable fear of bodily harm or death.  Two different laws, two different measures of "justice."  Why wasn't Treyvon Martin allowed the right to stand his ground?  What if Trevon Martin had killed Zimmerman in self-defense?

Why Were Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman Held to Two Different Standards of Justice?

The Evil New "Stand Your Ground" Law Made the Killing of Trayvon Martin Permissible

Why Stand Your Ground Is Central to George Zimmerman's Case

Zimmerman Juror Says Panel Considered Stand Your Ground in Deliberations

Stand Your Ground and The Zimmerman Defense (Media Matters)

White People Who Kill Black People in "Stand Your Ground" States 354% More Likely to Be Cleared of Murder

Justice for Trayvon? Repeal ALEC's 'Stand Your Ground' 

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism - Democratic Socialists of America

Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism - Democratic Socialists of America

Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism

Posted by National Political Committee on 07.14.13
Statement of the Democratic Socialists of American National Political Committee

Democratic Socialists of America joins the broad civil rights and progressive community in expressing its outrage at the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Only an insane, ALEC-inspired “stand your ground law” combined with the racist assumption that African Americans automatically pose a threat to anyone’s person and property enabled George Zimmerman to be acquitted.  

In the law of most other societies, the armed party would have been responsible for “standing down” and avoiding an altercation with an unarmed party. But in the United States, an unarmed black teenager, walking in his father’s neighborhood, is viewed by all too many as a threat to an armed vigilante who not only initiated the deadly encounter, but stalked the victim.

If the “stand your ground” law and a lax prosecution enabled George Zimmerman to get off, this is clearly one in a long series of cases in the United States where racist laws and true justice fail to coincide. George Zimmerman’s words to the police dispatcher –who urged him to stand down—ironically summarized what many of us see to be the outcome of the trial: “Fucking punks; these assholes always get away.” Indeed, George Zimmerman got away.

DSA urges its members to join protests against the verdict and “stand your ground laws” and to redouble our efforts to fight against racism, including the outrageous “New Jim Crow” prison-pipeline laws that subject hundreds of thousands of prisoners of color to absurdly long sentences for minor, non-violent drug law violations. We also join the NAACP in urging the United States Justice Department to indict George Zimmerman for violating the civil rights of Trayvon Martin. “Walking while Black” should not be a cause for armed citizens to harass and confront – and then murder – unarmed persons of color.

What We Can Learn From America's First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power

What We Can Learn From America's First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power

Before there was Citizens United, a modern Tea Party movement, or national momentum to ban corporate personhood, Thom Hartmann shows that resistance to corporate power is just as patriotic as Boston’s original Tea Party.

Marriage Equality and Beyond

We applaud the SCOTUS rulings striking down California's Prop. 8 and Part of the DOMA, but there is a long road ahead to full equality for LGBT people.

Marriage Equality and Beyond 

Marriage Equality Essential But Insufficient (DSA Statement)

The Faces of America’s Hungry

Preview: The Faces of America’s Hungry | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com

Occupy and the Future of the Left

Occupy and the Future of the Left - 2013 Left Forum 

Watch live streaming video from freespeechtv at livestream.com

The Future of the Left - A Conversation on Socialist Unity

The Future of the Left - A Conversation on Socialist Unity

A dialogue on Socialist Unity Presented by the Left Labor Project:
With Mark Solomon of the CCDS leading off based on his widely circulated and discussed article in Portside and respondents from Jacobin Magazine, Democratic Socialists of America, CPUSA, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Chaired by Pat Fry -- Left Labor Project
Opening remarks from Mark Solomon -- Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
Responses by:
• Bhaskar Sunkara, Editor -- Jacobin Magazine
• Libero Della Piana, Vice Chair -- Communist Party USA
• Maria Svart, National Director -- Democratic Socialists of America
• Eric Odell -- Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Hosted by:
• Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
• Communist Party USA
• Democratic Socialists of America
• Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Class War Update: US Inequality Now Literally Off the Chart

US Inequality Now Literally Off the Chart

Income Inequality Gets Worse When You Slash Taxes on the Rich

The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty... And it's Creeping Upward

The Student Debt Crisis Explodes

Student loan debt, $1 trillion, now surpasses credit card debt, and is expected to be the next big financial bubble which will ripple throughout the U.S. Economy.
There are policy proposals to limit interest on student loans, and to address problems with the private student loan industry, but the real solution is to END student loan debt by forgiving all student loans, and making public college education FREE like K-12 public education.  DSA is launching a Drop Student Debt Campaign (see below), there will be a conference all on the campaign May 23rd.


Student Loan Crisis Coming to a Head

Student Dept Nearly Tripled in 8 Years

The Soul Of Student Debt

Student Debt: The Next Financial Crisis?

Student Loan Debt is Drag on Economy

Student Loan Debt Generates $50 Billion Profit-for U.S. Government

Student Loan Debt is Stealing our Future

The Student Debt Crisis in  6 Charts

Testimony: My Crushing Student Debt

Solutions:

Forgive Student Loan Debt

Join Student Debt Crisis.org

Join DSA's Drop Student Debt Campaign

5 Ways That Raw, Unregulated Capitalism Is Acting Like a Cancer on American Society

5 Ways That Raw, Unregulated Capitalism Is Acting Like a Cancer on American Society | Alternet

Happy May Day From Memphis DSA

Happy May Day from Memphis DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)!  It is a perilous time for American workers.  Our political leaders have forced austerity budget cuts upon us to spare the corporate rich from necessary tax increases and the already weak social "safety net," including Social Security and Medicare, are under attack.   Labor Unions are facing mounting obstacles blocking their ability to organize and defend workers.  Now is the time to unite and fight back!

Join DSA and other progressive/left and labor groups on this May Day to celebrate the achievements of the labor movement and unite to fight for the rights of all workers to living wages and benefits earned from their labor.

Visit DSA's Talking Union Website to learn more about labor issues and organizations to support and join.

Born in the USA

Building Workers' Power: ITUC May Day Statement

How Unions are Getting their Groove Back

It's Time for a Worker's Movement in the USA

Some recommended labor organizations and Web Sites:

Jobs With Justice

Working America

Workers Interfaith Network

Worker's Independent News

Labor Notes

Join us at Memphis United's  Memphis May Day Celebration!

For Global Capital, Workers are Expendable and Disposable Commodities

For Global Capital, Workers are Expendable and Disposable Commodities - Democratic Socialists of America (Paul Garver)

Victims of Tazreen Factory Fire in Bangladesh Continue to Suffer (Talking Union)

Memphis May Day Celebration

Memphis May Day Celebration

It’s Time for a Worker’s Movement in USA

It’s Time for a Worker’s Movement in USA | The Progressive Press

Retail and Fast Food Workers Strike In Chicago

How Unions are Getting their Groove Back

We Need a 'Robin Hood Tax' to Fight Austerity-Agenda

Robin Hood Tax USA

U.S. Rep Introduces 'Robin Hood Tax' to Fight Austerity-Agenda | Common Dreams

DSA Fact Sheet: Financial Transaction Tax (Now HR 1579)

Contact Rep. Steve Cohen and ask him to support HR 1579

Austerity or Prosperity? U.S. Capitalism in Crisis

More than 122 million jobs lost..

10 million homes foreclosed..

Student debt tops $1 Trillion..

Poverty rate at 30 year high..

Corporations paying little or no taxes…

Social Security and Medicare being cut..

TIME TO FIGHT BACK!

MEMPHIS DSA PRESENTS A GETUP WORKSHOP

(Grassroots Economics Trainining for Understanding and Power)

AUSTERITY OR PROSPERITY?

U.S. CAPITALISM IN CRISIS AND SOCIAL MARKET ALTERNATIVES

With Bill Barclay

Tuesday, April 16th, 6:30-8 PM

AFSCME Local 1733

485 Beale Street, Memphis, TN

Marriage Is Great, But Many LGBT People of Color Need Job Safety

An important look at poverty in the LGBT community, especially among LGBT racial minorities, and why we cannot let the fight for marriage equality divert attention from the main issue--economic justice.

Marriage Is Great, But Many LGBT People of Color Need Job Safety - COLORLINES

We're Not Broke: Tax the Rich!

Join Memphis DSA this Saturday 3 PM to watch the U.S. Uncut movie WE ARE NOT BROKE!

Over Two Million Americans Tell Obama: No Cuts to Social Security and Medicare Benefits

Over Two Million Americans Tell Obama: No Cuts to Social Security and Medicare Benefits 

Obama’s Social Security Cuts Are Our Wake-Up Call

Obama’s Social Security Cuts Are Our Wake-Up Call 

Obama Accepts GOP Austerity Agenda: Cut Social Security

Progressives Push Back Against Obama's Social Security, Medicare Austerity

7 Facts About Retirement in America that Should Make Obama Tremble Before Cutting Social Security

45 Years After MLK Assassination, What Have We Learned?

45 Years After MLK Assassination, What Have We Learned? | Alternet

Imagine if America Had Adopted MLK's Dream (Bill Moyers)

The Struggle Continues for Memphis Sanitation Workers

The Struggle Continues for Memphis Sanitation Workers | Talking Union




And for all low-paid workers...

Activists Gather in Memphis to Commemorate MLK's Life

Activists Gather in Memphis to Commemorate MLK's Life
AFSCME Local 1733 and activists from across the nation will gather in Memphis this week to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King.


Memphis Commemorative Events April 3-4, 2013

Please join members of AFSCME Local 1733, Martin Luther King III, AFSCME President Lee Saunders, MSNBC “PoliticsNation” Host and National Action Network President Al Sharpton

as we commemorate the 

45th Anniversary of 

Dr. Martin Luther King’s work

on behalf of AFSCME Local 1733’s 1968 Sanitation Workers’ Strike:

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s final act of solidarity. In commemoration of his life and his solidarity, union members, civil rights leaders and community activists are again gathering in Memphis for a series of historic events.

On April 3, the community will gather from 7-10 p.m. in the historic Mason Temple at 930 Mason St., Memphis, Tenn. Highlights a panel discussion on economic and racial justice including Karen Finney of MSNBC, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Benjamin Todd Jealous of the NAACP, Van Jones of Rebuild the Dream and Terry O'Neill of the National Organization for Women. Civil rights leaders the Rev. Al Sharpton, AFL-CIO Exec. Vice Pres. Arlene Holt Baker, AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders and Martin Luther King III will also give special remarks.

On April 4 at 8:30 a.m., we will rename a local street 1968 Strikers Lane, then march from AFSCME Local 1733 (485 Beale St.) to the National Civil Rights Museum (450 Mulberry St.) and end with a rally.

The invitation from Martin Luther King III, AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders and Rev. Al Sharpton reads, “We look back this year and remember, because we know that the foundation laid in the most triumphant and tragic days of the civil rights movement – of our economic justice – must inspire and guide us in the struggles we now face.”

For more information and to RSVP, please visit www.memphis2013.org.

Celebrating Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

Celebrating Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta recognized for their life long contributions to organized labor and social justice.

Cesar Chavez at the Delano UFW rally. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cesar Chavez Day is a state holiday in California – one of eight states to recognize the  date, and one of the few holidays  in the nation  dedicated  to a labor leader.   Sacramento and dozens of cities, counties and labor federations will celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez on March 31, 2013.

The  year  2012 was the 50^th. anniversary of the founding of the U.F.W.  by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz and others.  The   celebrations focused  on  the struggle for union rights and justice in the fields of California.

The United Farm Workers  (UFW) was the  first successful union of farm workers in  U.S. history.  There had been more than ten prior attempts to build a farm workers union.   Each of the prior attempts  were destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez and Huerta  chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and community organizing  and allied itself  with the churches, students,  and organized labor.  The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing  in the Southwest  and contributed significantly to the birth of Latino politics in the U.S.

Today, under the leadership of UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, only about 25,000  farm workers enjoy benefits on the job. Wages and benefit in farm labor have again been reduced to the pre union levels.  The UFW has shown unions that immigrants can and must be organized.

Both Chavez and DSA Honorary Chair Dolores Huerta have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor and  in the California Hall of Fame for their work.

Dolores Huerta remains active as  a  staunch advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom.  Huerta is a founding board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation and serves on the board of Ms. Magazine as well as her service as an Honorary  DSA Chair.  She is active in the Democratic Party Conventions and campaigns  and  she frequently speaks at universities and organizational forums and union halls  on issues of social justice and public policy. Dolores  continues working to develop community leaders and advocating for the working poor, immigrants, women and youth as President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Read more of this post
http://www.dsausa.org/celebrating_cesar_chavez_and_dolores_huerta

Duane Campbell is a Professor (emeritus)  of Bilingual/Multicultural Education at Calif. State University-Sacramento, the author of Choosing Democracy; a practical guide to multicultural education.

Memphis People's Conference on Race and Equality (Sat. March 30th)

People's Conference on Race and Equality

Memphis DSA supports the People's Conference on Race & Equality, JOIN US at the conference on Sat. March 30th

-----------

Memphis United presents the People’s Conference on Race and Equality with workshops, community conversations, arts, music, & dance ongoing throughout the day. Also featuring an action area with information from dozens of groups on opportunities for action, art exhibits, and interactive kids art project and much more. Drop-in at any time throughout the day for a few minutes or a few hours and learn to confront hate by building community. 

Central Stage :: Creative Arts Building

10-11am: Opening Ceremony with Danza Azteca Quetzalcoatl 

11am-12:15pm :: Community Conversation: Race, Faith and Movements 

Panelists: Andy Andrews, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church; Andre Johnson, Pastor and Author of Race, Rhetoric & Religion; Gail Tyree, activist and local AFSCME Asst. Director; Dr. Coby Smith, founding member of the Invaders

Moderator: Anthony Siracusa, Rhodes College

12:30-1pm: Performance: Latino Cultural Center (theatre, dance, art and music)

1-1:50pm: Community Conversation: Racial Structures and Racial Realities in Memphis

Dr. Zandria Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of Memphis; Dr. Wanda Rushing, author of Memphis & the Paradox of Place, Luvell Anderson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis

Moderator: Edie Love, activist and student

2-2:30pm: Performance: Artistik Approach (a capella hip-hop and spoken word)

2:30-3:20pm: Community Conversation: Environmental Racism: Poverty, Pollution and Solutions

Rita Harris, Environmental Justice Director, Sierra Club; Bastet Ank Re, Vegan Chef, Natural House of Wellness; Khomorai Galloway, Grow Memphis Community Gardening Organizer

Moderator: Chris Peterson, Grow Memphis

3:30-4pm:  Performance: Juju Bushman (singer and songwriter)

4-5pm: Community Conversation: Discrimination and Equality: The GLBT Struggle Continues

Panelists: Will Batts, Executive Director, Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Floridia Jackson, Pastor and activist, Yeshua Holiday, Pastor and activist

Moderator: TBD

Workshops :: East Wing, Creative Arts BuildingWorskhops are 50 minutes in length 

10:30am: Story to Story - Elaine Blanchard 

11:30am: Community Conversation on Race - Common Ground

1pm: The Reality of our Immigration System - TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition & Communidades Unidas en Una Voz

2:30pm: Nonviolent Communication - Elaine Krueger

4pm: Organizing Against Racism -  Bradley Watkins, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

Exhibition and Activity Area :: West Wing, Creative Arts Building

• Ongoing tabling by 30+ community groups that you can get involved with
• Art exhibition area with works exhibited by local artists
• Kids interactive art area
• Plus much more…. 

For more information, visit the Memphis United Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/MemphisUnited